Spraining Ankles and Building Snowmen
by Barsonia
Summary: A divide between Anna and Elsa has grown so large that not even the best time of the year can fix it. However, maybe a miracle can; a miracle in the uncommon form of an attempted suicide. AU, Slightly Absurd, Wildly Out of Season.


**A/N: I just wanted to start off by noting that I'm aware that this is a bit of a strange theme, considering that it is currently early April. However, this has not deterred my writing in the slightest, and I hope that you feel the same about your reading of it. Enjoy!**

...

A closed door. This was not atypical. She sighed anyway.

She just thought that, maybe since it was Christmas Eve and the whole family was downstairs eating dinner and enjoying themselves, Elsa might want to join them. A silly thing to think, of course, given that all behavior Elsa had exhibited in the past two years indicated that this wasn't even vaguely plausible, but there was hope anyway.

Anna closed her eyes for a second, shorts bursts of happy memories flashing across the blackness of her eye lids in that second, before she opened them again and gave two small knocks on the bedroom door.

"Hey Elsa, it's me! I thought you might want some dinner, so I-" she was quickly interrupted by the sound of the door unlocking. Then Elsa cracked it open for a second, her face barely visible to Anna, before snatching the plate from her hands and giving a curt, "Thank you."

However, before Elsa could close the door again, Anna put her foot between it and the wall. Elsa looked from her foot to her, back to her foot, and then back to her, with a confused and slightly irritated expression.

"Yes?" She asked, again monotonous and short.

"Well, it's just that...it's Christmas Eve. Don't you want to, y'know, come downstai-" Anna began, before being immediately cut off.

"No thanks, I'm pretty busy."

"Yeah, but-"

"Please move your foot."

Anna sighed and did as she was told, before the door slammed closed and she heard the sound of it being locked again. So much for that.

_It wouldn't be so hard if she just told me **why **she's decided to close the door on everyone else._

…

She tossed and turned, as she feebly attempted to wrestle with her bed in her efforts to get comfortable enough to sleep. Of course, the bed wasn't the problem. She had slept on it well enough most nights. No, the problem was that it was Christmas Eve, and there had never been a night in Anna's life that she had slept well on Christmas Eve. She kicked and tossed her sheets about until her bed was in a complete disorganized state of chaos. She then gave a frustrated groan as she glared at the ceiling, and then looked at the alarm clock on the stand right next to her bed.

3:30 AM.

She then made a sound that was somewhere between a snarl and a shriek, before tossing over onto her side and pulling the nearest pillow over her head.

_Stomp._

What in God's name was that? Anna pulled the pillow slightly off of her head, so that her eyes could view the dark room, jerking around as they searched for the cause of the disturbance.

_Stomp._

Anna gasped when she realized where the sound was coming from. There was something on the roof. At this unholy hour. On the roof. Making noise.

_Hey, maybe it's- no, stop being stupid Anna. You are seventeen years old, it's time you start thinking like it!_

_STOMP_

In any case, she came to the conclusion that going on the roof and politely asking what or who ever was up there to kindly keep it down was the only real solution. So, rolling out of bed, hitting the floor with a thud, and then rubbing her head for several seconds, she then proceeded to get ready. She put on her comfiest coat, a hat, a scarf, gloves, snow pants, and boots, before taking a deep breath and opening her window. To her delight, the wind wasn't nearly as strong as she figured it would be, though she still wished it was warmer and less snowy, as it would provide easier access to the roof.

As she consciously worked to keep her hands from trembling (which she reassured herself was due to the cold and not any sort of fear of falling to her death), she climbed out onto her windowsill and reached up, grabbing the gutter and using it as support to pull herself up. Being extra careful not to slip on the snow, she then made her way to the top of the roof, and gave a small sigh of relief when she finally finished the trials and tribulations that it took to reach her destination.

However, her internal celebration was cut short when she saw a figure on the roof. A man. An extremely overweight man that had a distinctive red outfit, long and white beard, and silly hat, carrying a large red bag. He was directly in front of the chimney, trying (and failing) to climb up to the top, and hadn't noticed Anna, several yards behind him.

She gasped.

He jerked around, looked quickly in the proximity, and, even at that distance, Anna could tell that his eyes widened significantly when they fixed upon her.

"No..." she could could hear the faint murmur of the figure as he let the bag fall and dropped his face into both his hands.

_How...how is this possible? That's- but, it can't be. No, no, that's ridiculous. But, it's obviously **him! **_

"No, no, no.." the figure continued, raising his voice slightly, as he started to pace around the rooftop with apparent anxiety.

_It must be some sort of imposter or something! But, then why would he be on top of the roof? At this temperature? At this time of night? What could possibly be gained from such an act?_

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" He screamed, as his pacing became even more frantic and aimless in nature.

_Maybe he's one of those supermarket actors and got drunk and decided to fulfill his duty? It always seemed like that must be one stressful job. I think **I **would snap and take up binge drinking if I had to do that every day._

The pacing had stopped, and the figure loudly hyperventilated for a moment, before throwing himself off of the ledge of the roof.

_Wait, what._

Anna darted to the edge of the roof, and, sure enough, the large man was lying in a slight crater, and was covered in snow. He appeared to be moving, but she wasn't going to take any chances, and she rushed down to the bottom of the house as fast as her subpar climbing abilities would allow, and then hurried over to the fallen man.

"Ohmygoshsir, areyouokayIamsosorryIdidn'tmeantoscareyou," she let out in one massive wave of worry and concern as she got down to her knees beside the fellow.

"No, yeah, I'm alright, unfortunately. Just a little beat up, and my ankle could be better; I think it might be sprained," the man grunted as he lifted his upper torso up and rubbed his foot.

Anna noticeable relaxed her muscles at hearing that he was more or less okay, and then thought for a moment.

"Let me go get my sister, Mr...uh, Claus, sir, it'll only take a second!" She quickly explained, before running back to the house, ignoring the man's cries of "No, that's not a good idea!" and "Stop!".

Racing into the house, and up the stairs, Anna slipped past the bedroom door of her parents as quietly as possible before reaching the door of her sister. She gave a wild (but still quiet) stream of knocks, knowing that there was no way her sister would open the door unless she made it seem like some kind of emergency (which it was, she assured herself).

The door unlocked, and Elsa swung it open. Her dark and baggy eyes were sleep-worn, and her hair was in complete disarray. If the situation wasn't so serious, Anna would have giggled. Elsa gave a menacing glare when Anna didn't immediately start explaining why she had woken her up at three thirty in the morning with nonstop door knocking.

"I swear to God, if there isn't a good reason for this, I will make you eat your own face," Elsa said flatly in her groggy voice, to which Anna gulped in response.

"S-santa," she replied meek as a mouse.

Elsa stared at her sister.

"What?" She finally inquired, vaguely concerned that Anna was having some kind of seizure.

Anna took a deep breath, before diving straight into her explanation.

"I heard a thumping on the roof, and I went to check it out, and sure enough Santa Freakin' Claus, Kris Kringle, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, SANTA CLAUS-"

she paused for a short moment to make sure that she hadn't awoken her parents, before continuing, "of all the people in the whole entire world, is on our rooftop. Naturally, I'm pretty confused, but I don't even have time to work things out in my head before the crazy son of bitch decides that it'd be a good idea to JUMP OFF THE GODDAMN ROOF-" again, another pause, "and sprain his ankle. So, now, the holiest jolliest man ever to exist is laying down in the snow in our front yard after a failed suicide attempt, and I need **your **help to get him inside before he freezes to death, because I'm pretty sure that I can't help support his six hundred or so pounds of pure fat all by myself. Make sense?" She finally finished, before realizing that she was breathing hard and fast like a maniac, and that her sister had a legitimately frightened expression on her face. Elsa stared at her in shock for a few seconds, before recollecting herself and going back to a cold and detached posture.

"Anna, it is far too early for me to put up with you being stupid. You can tell me all about your dream in the morning, Good Night," she said, before attempting to close the door. Anna, however, had different plans, as she grabbed a hold of her sister's wrist with a determined expression and dragged her to the stairs, much to the exasperation of the other.

"No, wait, Anna, let go, where are you taki- NO! I'm just in my pajamas, it's freezing out there, at least let me get changed first; for God's sake, let go!" she said in a panicked state, to no avail, as her sister simply ignored her and brought her all the way outside, before closing the door and letting go of her hand. Elsa immediately tried to warm herself with her arms, and glared at Anna with pure fury, ready to rip her head off and go back to the warm comfort of her bed, before she caught something in her peripheral vision. She looked over to it, and nearly fainted when her mind finally registered what exactly it was that she was seeing.

"Sup," Santa waved with a bored expression, still laying down in the snow. Elsa instantly jerked her

head over to her sister, seeking some sort of explanation, and was met by nothing other than a satisfied and triumphant smirk.

"Told ya."

"B-but, h-how, w-why..." Elsa tried to verbalize her thoughts, but she was interrupted by Anna walking over to Santa and gesturing for her to follow. "Okay, you can support his right side, I'll take his left," she remarked, as she grabbed Santa from under his left arm and prepared to lift him onto his good foot. Elsa was going to protest, but, seeing the pleading look in her sister's eyes and the not-so-pleading but still kind of pathetic look in Santa's, she merely sighed, and took his right arm. The two girls, using all of their combined strength, managed to get the man up, and help him walk to the front door. They opened it, and dropped him onto the couch, before crumpling down on their knees and panting with exhaustion.

"Well, that was quite the workout, huh? Sort of makes you want to get outside and exercise more often, doesn't it?" Santa asked, kicking up his feet on the couch, and laying back, resting his head on his arms crossed behind it with a contented look on his face.

The two sisters looked at the man in disbelief and no small amount of anger. Anna breathed slowly, closed her eyes, and looked at her sister, who was still glaring daggers at the oblivious man on the couch.

"Elsa, you should go make our guest some hot cocoa," she said as calmly as she could. Elsa looked at her in shock.

"You realize that he's probably just some drugged up hobo, right?" Elsa asked with a glare, to which Anna simply pointed in the direction of the kitchen, indicating that the cocoa request had not been suspended.

Elsa sighed and got up, walking away from the room and leaving Anna and Santa in peace to discuss their peculiar situation. Except Santa was snoring.

_He's asleep. He literally just fell asleep. That actually just happened._

Anna got up, strode over to the man, and angrily snapped her fingers in his face. He awoke with a jolt.

"Oh, sorry, I must have dozed off there for a second, heh. So, what's the, uh, topic of discussion?" He asked with a grin, completely ignoring Anna's furious expression.

"You. How do you exist? Why were you on our roof? Why the hell did you jump? Feel free to answer those questions in any order you choose."

Santa gave some consideration, before calmly giving a response,

"I exist because I was born, naturally. I was on your roof because I'm Santa Claus and I deliver presents to people, preferably via chimney, and I jumped because I'm tired of living. It's awfully lonely up at the Pole, you know. I mean, sure, the Elfs keep me company to some extent, but they get on your nerves after a while, and they aren't **real **human contact. That's what I truly desire. Humanity. Fun. Love and laughter. Friendship. None of those things can be provided in that barren wasteland of ice," he said, causing Anna to soften her stance and expression while slumping her shoulders a bit. Santa put a finger to his bottom lip in deep thought, and then continued, "Of course, I never would have jumped unless you saw me. It's against the rules, you know, for me to be seen by a normal person. So, in a way, I guess you could consider this your fault, though it's okay. I've really never been a very bitter guy; I won't hold it against you."

At the words "your fault", Anna couldn't help but be sucked into a horrible wave of guilty feelings as she desperately held back tears. What if he had landed just a little different and ended up with much more serious injuries? Or worse, what if he had been successful? She shuddered at the thought alone.

_I have to make up for this. Somehow._

Santa gave a concerned look at the girl's apparent dismay.

"Oh, come on lassie, you didn't take that 'your fault' stuff to heart, did you? It was just a bad joke more than anything else," he said with a deep chuckle. "No, there's nobody to blame for me jumping but myself, of course."

Anna nodded, but she couldn't rid herself of the stabbing feeling of guilt, nor the inexplicable urge to correct her perceived transgression.

Shortly after, Elsa returned carrying three steaming mugs. She handed one to Anna, one to Santa, and kept one for herself. They all enjoyed their cups in peace, but when they were all nearly done, Elsa finally spoke.

"So, when you are you going to tell us who you **really **are?" She asked, to the shock of the other two.

"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed indignantly, while glaring at her sister.

Elsa rolled her eyes and rubbed them for a moment before answering. "Oh, come **on, **Anna! I know you're gullible, but even you can't be fooled by this! He obviously isn't who you think he is, and I don't know about you, but I'm not very comfortable with the idea of a complete stranger who may be mentally ill or dangerous staying on our couch!"

The two sisters glared at each other with equally resolute expressions in silence. The man looked from one to the other, before sighing. "Well, I can see that my presence here has caused some unpleasantness. I'll just do you both a favor and get out of your hair. Thank you for the magnificent hot chocolate!" He said, before standing up, using his good foot and the coffee table to balance himself. Anna immediately went over and gave him a slight push so that he fell back on the couch.

"You are not going **anywhere**, Mister! Not until your foot's well enough for you to be able to walk." She said with a stubborn stance and equally stubborn facial features. Elsa slapped her hand against her own face, endlessly frustrated.

"Anna, can I speak to you for a moment? In private?"

Anna turned to her sister, before nodding slightly. "We'll be back in a sec," she said, turning to the old man, who simply nodded with an understanding look.

The two barely reached the kitchen before Elsa started whisper-chewing her sister's ear off.

"You can't be serious Anna! We can't let this freak stay here until his stupid ankle is better. It could take a week, or maybe even longer! What were you thinking?!"

Anna was about to give an angry reply, but then paused and looked down sullenly. _This is the most I've talked to my sister in years, and we're spending the whole time arguing._

"You're right, I guess. We can't let him stay here, at least because Mom and Dad will freak when they wake up. But, you don't seem to understand. He jumped because of **me**! If I hadn't been up there, he'd be perfectly fine right now. I'm the whole reason all of this happened! I almost made a guy, Santa Claus or not, kill himself!" Anna said, tears welling up, as she looked away from her sister. Elsa took a small breath, and dropped her angry glare before putting a comforting hand on Anna's shoulder.

"It'll be okay. I promise. How about this? We let him stay here for the rest of the night and maybe try to cheer him up so that he doesn't run off and commit seppuku. Then, we'll lend him your old crutches from back when you got that volleyball strain and send him off on his merry way. Sound like a deal?" Elsa asked calmly and in a diplomatic fashion. He sister finally locked eyes with her, and gave a small smile and nod, before trying to brush away her tears.

The two made their way back into the living room, to find a once again sleeping Santa Claus.

Elsa went over and flicked his forehead, much to Anna's irritation. He jumped and opened his eyes in a daze, before memory returned and he smiled calmly at the two.

"Sorry," he offered simply, and the two sisters wordlessly accepted the apology, before Anna started to explain the conclusion that they had reached.

"Um, Mr. Santa, sir, while you know that we would love your company, I'm afraid that it just isn't feasible with our current circumstances. We, unfortunately, can't have you stay here. Times are tough and all. But, we decided, to make it up to you, we'll spend the whole time playing games and doing fun activities! We'll play board games, and read stories, and have snowball fights, an- OOH, WE COULD EVEN BUILD A SNOWMAN!" She jumped up and down on her feet with total glee, and neither Santa nor Elsa could help themselves from smirking at her childlike enthusiasm.

The two girls anxiously awaited the response of the old man, who finally gave a big grin and said, "Sure! Sounds like fun."

…

"Ha! Third time in a row I've won! I'm undefeated! I am the CHAMPION!" Anna exclaimed as she basked in the glory of her winning streak at Clue. For someone who displayed absolutely no deductive reasoning in any other aspect of her life, she had a surprising talent at the game. Santa gave a hearty chuckle at her victory shouts, while Elsa merely fixated on the board, nearly incoherently muttering, though Anna picked up on bits and pieces such as, "No fair" and "Lucky coincidence". In the years that Elsa had become a recluse, Anna had completely forgotten what a notoriously sore loser her sister was.

"Well, I guess it's time for some outdoor fun, huh guys?!" Anna asked, vibrating up and down uncontrollably. Elsa sighed, though she was internally quite relieved to be done with board games. "Yeah, sure. Let me go get dressed," she said, running upstairs. Santa had a perplexed expression.

"Anna, how exactly am I going to participate in these fun activities? I am quite immobile, you see," he gestured towards his foot, as if she might have forgotten.

Anna rolled her eyes at the man's seriousness. "I'll go get you a lawn chair, silly! And crutches too, in case you get tired of just watching us," she explained, as she darted around the house, getting all of the necessary materials.

…

Once the three were outside, the fun started relatively quickly. Santa, despite being seated, seemed to have no trouble participating, as he immediately constructed a snowball and threw it directly at Anna's face, initiating a duel between the two. Elsa watched from the sidelines, content to be uninvolved in their shenanigans, but that thought was quickly dashed when a stray snowball hit her square upside the head.

"Oh my God, sorry Els- pfftha. Haha!" Anna giggled at the other's snow-covered face glaring back at her in a futile attempt to appear intimidating. Santa wasted no time in contributing to the laughter with his own joyous, highly exaggerated chuckling, and, despite all attempts to the contrary, Elsa couldn't help herself and she resigned herself to giving a small laugh, before making her own snowball. "You're gonna pay for that, you brat!" She yelled, throwing her weapon and hitting Anna so hard that she lost her balance and fell over. The battle continued in much this way, with volleys of snow projectiles being interrupted by uneventful fits of laughter.

…

"Come on, just a little further, Elsa! We're almost finished!" Anna said, as the two girls rolled a ball of snow towards the unfinished snowman. Once there, they lifted it and positioned it on the top of the other two, before falling down and taking a break, resting their backs against the lower body of the snowman.

Elsa giggled quietly as she rubbed her blonde hair out of her eyes. Anna shot her a suspicious look, before interrogating her, "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just...we haven't had this much fun together since we were kids," she explained, before closing her eyes and softly humming "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Anna got a pensive look in her eyes as she considered what she was about to say. She then took a deep breath, and asked, barely audibly,

"Why?"

"Hm?" Elsa asked, still smirking with her eyes closed.

"Why haven't we had this much fun since we were kids? Why haven't we spent any time together over the past years?" Anna asked, finally determined to answer this question once and for all. Elsa's eyes shot open.

"I...things change," she stated simply, before brushing the snow off herself and preparing to stand up. Anna, however, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back down. The younger was glaring at the older now.

"No! You aren't going to get out of this that easy. Explain to me why you stopped spending time with me, or anyone else for that matter!"

Elsa didn't meet Anna's eyes, and tried to pull away. "Anna, please, can't we talk about this some other time?"

"Why?! Why have I spent the past two years without a sister? Why have you locked yourself in your room and pretended like I don't exist?" Anna pushed, refusing to let Elsa slip from her grasp, both figuratively and literally.

"Anna, not no-"

"TELL ME!"

Tears collected in Elsa's eyes, before she finally spat out, "Because I was **jealous**, alright?!"

Silence overtook them. Elsa was now completely refusing to look in Anna's direction as she silently cried.

"W-why would you be jealous? What are you talking about?" Anna asked, her anger and hurt being replaced with sheer confusion.

Elsa spoke in sharp gasps in between sobs, "Because, you are **perfect**! You always did everything better than me. You made friends easier, boys liked you better, you got better grades, you _never _got into trouble, yet everyone was still convinced that you were cool. You were absolutely perfect and I was **jealous**!"

Anna was utterly stumped. She had to deeply ponder her next choice of words for several moments.

However, there were no words. The only correct way to respond to this was a hug. And so she hugged Elsa. She gave her the biggest, warmest, most love-filled embrace she could possibly muster. And Elsa, after a small period of hesitance, mainly due to complete bewilderment, hugged her sister back just as tightly. The two remained like that for what felt like hours, not speaking any words or letting go for even a second. When they finally did disconnect, both of their faces were red, puffy and tear-stained, and each playfully laughed at the other's state, both knowing full well that that was exactly how they looked.

"I missed you," Elsa muttered, and Anna expressed the same sentiment with, "I missed you, too."

After this, they both stood up, and wiped the snow off of their clothes. Anna looked around. Her eyes then widened.

"Hey, where's Santa?!" In their roller coaster of emotions, neither had noticed that he had been gone for hours. The lawn chair was vacant, and the crutches were gone. The two sisters raced around the front yard, searching for the old man, but he was nowhere to be found. Knowing that there was no other place to go but inside the house, they both bolted for the front door.

It was gone. All of it. No furniture, no appliances, no decorations, nothing to speak of. The rugs were even missing. And worst of all, the Christmas tree. Gone. Along with the presents underneath it. Gulping and hoping that it was possibly just the living room, Anna quickly ran to the kitchen, only to find much the same scenario. Out of curiosity more than anything else, she opened a drawer, and, sure enough, the silverware was gone too.

_The silverware is all missing. Why would someone do such a thing?_

Elsa and Anna both silently locked eyes with each other, before nodding and sprinting for the front yard. Desperately searching for any sign of the runaway thief, Anna saw in the distance, far down the street of the cul-de-sac, a large pickup truck speeding away. In the bed of it, she saw a distinctively overweight man colored bright red, standing atop a couch perfectly on both of his feet, sticking his tongue out, and holding both of his hands up while...

_Is he flipping us off? Is this really even happening?_

…

Elsa looked at the local news app on her phone, reading one of the headlines out loud,

"Network of Con Artist Santas Terrorize Local Neighborhoods," as she could hear the muffled voices of her parents upstairs; her father calling 9-1-1, and her mother sobbing hysterically. She looked up from her phone, and saw Anna kneeling against the wall, her face buried in both of her arms, shaking uncontrollably.

"Anna?" She asked gently as she walked over to her sister and crouched down in front of her.

"How could I have been so **stupid**? I mean, what the hell was I **thinking**?" She could hear her sister's covered voice exclaim. Elsa quickly grabbed Anna's face and pulled it up so that her tear-filled eyes met her own.

"Anna, listen to me. There was no way you could have known. And besides, he was pretty damn convincing. I mean, for a while there, he even fooled me!" She said, trying to comfort her her sister, who merely shrugged her shoulders in response.

"I guess..."

Elsa was not going to accept that answer. Her sister was counting on her to make her feel better, and by God, she was not going to fail in that task.

"Besides, in a way, that crazy bastard brought us closer together. I mean, is it really such bad thing that we got tricked?" She asked calmly, to which Anna gave a big smile (though still teary-eyed) and hug. The two remained holding on to each other through the rest of the early Christmas morning, sprawled out on the floor and resting their backs against the wall. By 7:00 AM, they had both drifted off into sleep, with Anna's final thought before the sleep jumping into her mind loud and clear.

_Best. Christmas. Ever._


End file.
